Disclaimer as before... I got tired of writing it... I'm applying my original disclaimer to all of my chapters!

The plagiarist has gone! The stolen fic has been taken down for good. (sighs loudly) Thank goondness! The whole thing was starting to wear me out and I'm relieved it's over. Everyone has been great in this, and I've thanked everyone in my profile. Now I can continue writing in peace without the fear of my work being stolen! Here is the next chapter, and I've just noticed that all of the previous 8 chapters' events took place in just one day. It was a very busy day I say:)


Chapter 9- Search for a Strategist

"Wake up everybody! Please, you have to help me!"

Huang Gai was the first to awake to the sound of squealing. The big man loved his sleep and was rather annoyed and confused as to why he'd awoken this early. Gai was a late riser as he trained incredibly hard in the day- by night he sometimes became so tired he needed to be helped upstairs! He hated admitting he was growing old. He still felt young, just as young as he was on the day he first met Sun Jian and helped support the growing Wu kingdom. He'd been there from the start- he'd seen Jian take control of his first region, rule the kingdom, and he'd even seen all of the Sun children grow up. He missed the good old days where he'd help look after them after Lady Wu passed away. They saw him as a second father figure and Gai had grown to love him as the children he'd never had. Back then they'd be the ones to wake him up, not a squealing Xiao Qiao…

"Lady Xiao Qiao!" Huang Gai popped his head from his bedroom. "What is going on?"

Xiao Qiao stopped running and dashed over to Gai. She looked distresses. "I think I did something wrong!"

"What did you do?"

"I didn't mean to do anything! This is why they won't let me fight in battles! I'm no good!" Xiao was now in a frantic state and on the verge of tears. Gai grabbed his robe from behind the door, put it on, and stepped out of the room.

"If you want me to help you'll have to tell me what's going on," he said as he rested a hand on Xiao's shoulder. "Now, will you tell me?"

Just then Zhou Tai appeared from his room next door. His hair was a mess and for once he wasn't wearing all of his protective armour. "What's all the noise?" he said, sounding very much half asleep. He too wasn't used to the loud awakenings. Xiao's shrill voice was worse than Sun Jian's 'wake up gong'…

"I'm in so much trouble!" Xiao wailed as she jumped up and down in a panic, knocking Gai's hand from her shoulder. "IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"

"What the…?" A sleepy Lu Xun stepped out of his room, his dark brown hair standing on end from a disturbed sleep. "May I ask what is going on?"

Zhou Tai shrugged his shoulders and continued watching as Xiao Qiao stopped jumping and started to cry all over Huang Gai. They could hear her weeping and sobbing. After a minute, the heads of Gan Ning, Taishi Ci and Lu Meng appeared and they too walked over to Xiao to see what was wrong.

"Hey Little Qiao!" Ning said cheerily. "What's up?"

Meng nudged Ning's arm warning him to stay back. He had experience of whenever Xiao was upset- he knew it was best to stay back to prevent her from becoming too upset. That girl could stay hysterical for days on end… "Xiao Qiao," he started, "why don't you tell us what the matter is, then maybe we can help you?"

Xiao looked up at all of the men surrounding her. She sniffed and wiped away some tears using her robe sleeve. "I…I…I…" she hesitated. She then cried a bit more.

"We're waiting…" Ci said in a sing song tone. Meng nudged him too.

Xiao faced Taishi Ci. She took a deep breath, and cried out "I LOST ZHOU YU!"

On the other side of the castle, where the Sun family slept (plus Da with her being Sun Ce's wife), Sun Ce woke up with a pounding headache.

"Oh my head!" he moaned loudly. So loudly he managed to wake up Da who was sleeping peacefully beside him. While she stirred he got to his feet and stumbled over to the wardrobe to get some clothes to wear. His head was spinning so fast he had to take a seat next to it to choose his outfit.

"Feeling your age?" Da asked cheekily from the bed. All she got was a groan as his reply. "I take it you had too much to drink last night?"

Ce nodded. "I can't remember much about last night… did I make an idiot of myself?"

"Oh yeah! You always do…" Da giggled and sat up. "You sang with Zhou Yu…"

"Zhou Yu sang with me? Why, was he drunk too?"

"He drank more than you did, and I'm guessing that now he's fast asleep in his bed with Xiao fussing over him!"

"I need a fuss…" Ce pouted.

Da threw a cushion from the end of the bed at him. "You don't need to be fussed over! If anything you should be the one fussing over me! Besides, I don't have the time to fuss over my lazy husband."

A laugh came from Sun Ce. "You don't have time? Excuse me, but what is it you do all day exactly? You don't go out and train, have strategy meetings, go to battle… you're lazier than me!"

Da would've slapped Ce if it hadn't been for the fact that he was sitting so far away. "You avoid training at all costs, you sleep in strategy meetings, and you don't do much in battle except argue with your brother about who deserves the throne if your father was to die there and then! So excuse me Mr Lazy but I do valuable things in my time. You think those dances came from sitting on my ass?" She looked at Ce's face waiting for a reply. He couldn't really reply to what she was saying was all true. He wasn't a fan of hard work it had to be said. He believed he was strong enough already and that he didn't need to constantly prove his worth (unlike his sister who felt it was necessary!).

"Grrr…" he groaned, and then rubbed his head trying to minimise the pain he was feeling. He'd never felt so hung over in his life! He dared to imagine what Zhou Yu was feeling…

Sun Shang Xiang sat at her dressing table staring into the mirror ahead. In her hand was a maroon flower clip that had previously belonged to her mother, and she felt the individual silk petals in her hand. It was a pretty flower she had agreed, part of her disagreeing and telling her that she was a tomboy and shouldn't be thinking those things. She had even thought of the flower as beautiful…

What Gan Ning had said to her the previous night was playing on her mind. Did he really think she was beautiful? She blushed as she remembered, and covered her face with her hands as she saw her redness in her reflection. She'd never received compliments like that before- it was normally Da or Xiao who got those. But her, Wu's tomboy warrior princess? Sure, it was only Gan Ning who had said it. He could have just been cheering her up and making her feel better about herself. She doubted that it was much more than that. After all, who could fall in love with someone as wild and rebellious as her?

Shang Xiang unfastened the clip and fixed it onto the right side of her short chin length hair. She moved her hands away and looked at herself. It did look a bit odd at first, and especially as she was wearing some of her training clothes, but it did look kind of… nice. She moved her head to the side and admired it from different angles. Shang did consider briefly wearing it outside of her room but she knew everyone would notice. They had noticed the dress yesterday and it had made her uncomfortable, and she didn't think that Ce wanted the memories of Da's hair clip brought up again! She removed the clip from her hair and placed it back in the draw which was also home to some jewelled daggers that had also been passed down from the late Lady Wu. She sighed at her reflection before standing up and heading off to breakfast. Did anyone really consider her beautiful?

"ZHOU YU?" Xiao called in the dining hall. She ran around frantically calling her dear husband's name, but she got no response. She looked underneath the dining table, behind the screens, behind the doors, and even in the kitchens. Xiao had managed to get some of the maids in on the hunt, but no success. Xiao feared the worst. A drunk man could do many things that he wouldn't normally do, and unfortunately for her Zhou Yu didn't do a lot when he was sober- he could do loads with some alcohol! She feared he had drowned in the river, jumped from the top of the castle…what she feared most was that he'd run away with another woman! She hated to think that she wasn't good enough for him…

Suddenly Gan Ning, Lu Meng and Lu Xun burst into the dining hall.

"Well?" Xiao asked in a frenzy. "Did you find him? Please tell me you found him!"

The three men exchanged solemn glances. They were confused too- it wasn't like Zhou Yu to just disappear from the castle. He normally stayed put in the safety of the strategy room. They had checked every room that they could get into and still no sign.

Xiao sobbed. "I bet he's run away because he found out that I spiked his drink!"

"Hey, don't worry Xiao!" Xun walked up to her and gave her a sympathy hug. "We'll find him for you- we won't let Wu's best strategist leave us to sort out Wei on our own!"

"Yeah!" Ning agreed. "Without him we're doomed!"

"So much for being positive, " muttered Meng as he leant against a door frame. "He will be around here somewhere Xiao, you'll see," he spoke up. "He won't have got too far…"

Sun Jian, Huang Gai and a very miserable Sun Ce were sat in the strategy room waiting for their strategist to discuss plans with them for the day. It had been suggested at the party that Wu concentrate more on strengthening the naval fleet. Zhou Yu had been talking about naval battles a lot recently, and it was always better to be safe than sorry. But Zhou Yu hadn't turned up. Usually he was the first one to arrive so he could prepare his presentations and make sure that the right people would be attending. His meetings always went to plan, and any glitches that did arise were normally due to Sun Ce who would always find an opportunity to interrupt his sworn brother.

"Ce," Sun Jian said as he stood up. "Are you sure you don't know where Zhou Yu is?"

"I swear I have no idea Pops!" said the Little Conqueror as he buried his head in his hands. "I don't remember anything about last night!" He sighed. "I don't even know what I did after I sang and made a complete ass of myself!"

Jian walked over to the room window and looked outside. Both Qiao sisters were searching the courtyard using their fans to separate the bushes apart and see if he was hiding in them. Lu Meng and Gan Ning were on their horses searching the rest of the grounds. The two generals looked up to the window were Jian stood, saw him, and shook their heads meaning that they hadn't seen Yu. Jian sighed and breathed out. It just wasn't like Zhou Yu…

Unaware of what was going on, a man in the stables yawned and stretched. He quickly stopped when he realised that his vision was slightly blurry and his head felt like it was being repeatedly hit with a mallet. He pushed himself back on what he had slept on- it was itchy. Very itchy. He looked down and realised that instead of his comfortable bed he had slept in a pile of hay and straw. Confused, he took a look around at the rest of his surroundings. It was dark with a little bit of light filtering through the door, everywhere was covered in hay and straw, but the most noticeable thing was he smell- it was awful! He immediately recognised it as horse manure so he wrinkled up his nose and closed his eyes. Suddenly he felt something licking his face. Hmmm he thought, Xiao doesn't lick me in the mornings… With that Zhou Yu opened up his eyes and came face to face with his horse. His eyes widened and he slowly backed away, vowing that he'd never drink alcohol again!
A/N- Hehe I liked the ending! I really enjoyed writing that bit- I hope you enjoyed reading it! Now I'll work on the next chapter for all of you lovely people:)

CrazyInsanity- I'm glad you love the fic! And thank you for helping me fight the plagiarist! Your reviews were so funny! (falls off chair laughing) If only I could go back and read them again! And in response to your question, for the song I didn't use a transator.I found a site which had the lyrics on because in the game the song is actually sung in Chinese. Good isn't it?

firesaddle- I know who you are now:) Hi there! I haven't let the thief stop me... she's gone! I finally got her sorted out... and this fic isn't going to end yet! The last chapter wasn't the last chapter, and neither is this one. Actually, I don't know when I'm going to finish this. It's ongoing until further notice... yay!

stackles- As before, that chapter wasn't the last! I still have more fanfic goodness to churn out!

Odin- I know there were some grammatical errors in there. My grammar isn't terrible- I have the worst spellchecker in the world! I have a beta reader but she does have a life too and I didn't want her to feel weighed down with work. She's done my first and second chapter so far... if you sopt any big mistakes which you feel I really need to get sorted, PM me on the Way of Musou board- that's where I am the most (username SunShangXiang).